Big Goals

Popular goal-setting approaches were designed by men for men, overlooking the barriers that women face.

When pursuing your goals, you might seek inspiration from the works of celebrated scholars. Alas, academic success hinges not on merit but on amassing citations, a game that favors men. Generally speaking, male academics tend to accumulate a larger portfolio of publications than female academics, as women often must juggle work with caregiving. Meanwhile, the subjects of academic studies are often grad students — university-educated 20-somethings — which isn’t a representative swath of the population. Other people turn to podcasts for inspiration, but the most popular podcasts overwhelmingly feature white men interviewing other white men.

Many goal-oriented people heed the SMART goals framework — a popular acronym that outlines the components of effective goal setting. However, the effectiveness of this acronym is not supported by academic research, and people are divided on what each element stands for. For instance, the letter R alone has been interpreted as “realistic,” “reachable,” and “relevant.” If you’re a manager, you might rely on ...